Consumer confidence drops in NY

State residents’ consumer confidence in the economy decreased for the second consecutive month in January, according to a Siena College survey released today, Gannett’s Haley Viccaro reports.

New York’s consumer sentiment declined by 2.8 points while the nation’s index increased by 0.9 points. The overall consumer confidence score for the state is 74.5 as of January, which is 0.7 points above the national score.

Doug Lonnstrom, director of the Siena Research Institute, said the state’s overall score is above the level where peoples’ optimism and pessimism equal, which means more individuals are optimistic about the economy.

“While still above the point at which optimism and pessimism balance, Democrats fell sharply this month as did younger New Yorkers, women and lower income residents,” Lonnstrom said in a statement.

With 54 percent of people worried about the prices of gas, Lonnstrom predicts the concerns will probably continue to rise in the future because gas prices will increase. About 70 percent of state residents said the money they spend on groceries seriously impacts their finances.

Individuals with higher incomes in the state were the only group that had an increase of about 2 points in their confidence of the state’s economy. Plans to buy homes also increased while the concerns over the prices of food and gas rose.

“Our quarterly real estate report showed that New Yorkers feel more positive about housing than they have in three years and now we see a big jump in the percentage that say they intend to buy a home in the next six months,” Lonnstrom said in a statement.